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Swindle's Powerhouse
Last time on The Transformers... In an effort to farther push the strain on Autobot holdings and logistics, Swindle and Blast Off lead a battalion of drones in an assault of Vigilence-2. But the Autobots has persevered through, and admist the fracas Jazz had successfully sequestered one of the drone's head units, allowing the Autobots to try and datamine its circuits for useful information. They also found a transmission signal, which traced back to a location on the outer districts of Nova Cronum... At one time the structure had been one of the city's vehicle and utilities maintenance facility. But now, as was clear by the Decepticon emblems painted upon the loading bay doors, someone had put the place to a new use for the war effort. Even from a distance, the hum of machinery could be heard in Cybertron's setting evening. Was this the place Swindle has been using to make his modifications to drones and potentially distribute them back into the ranks? How did this tie into the other connections between the drone forces and the Combaticons.. or was the slimy shyster up to something on his own? That's what the Autobots are coming to find out But first, they need to find their way inside. Those loading bays look like the only most immeadiate entrance though... Clandestine recon and assault? It's what the Female Autobots (and Hound) do best! Elita One and the team are currently a bit down the block from the warehouse, having covertly crept across the borders between Bot and Con held territory. With Zipline to quietly infiltrate, Arcee's high end spotting abilities, and Hound's holograms for cover, the mission so far has gone swimmingly. Elita's got optic shades on at the moment, and it has everything to do with Arcee having a pair as well. "Lightly defended so far, if not unguarded. Doesn't make much in the way of sense, but perhaps the Combaticons are trying to hide in plain sight." The visor lifts up into her funky crown as she turns back to the group. Her cool, ethereal tone stays low as she discusses the actions ahead. "We must bear in mind three things here. One: This could easily be a trap. Two: Decibel's notation that the Drones operate much more efficiently under Combaticon supervision. If Swindle's here, we can't discount any drones, even if they're not outfitted with his tech." What's wrong with My First Blasters anyway, Swindle? She continues, "And last, if we do start up much trouble, we'll need a quick escape." She gestures down the road, where the lines were drawn, "Hound, It'll be your job to run interference for us with holograms. Be the first one out the door. I've got a demo pack to offline any machinery inside. Right now, we need to find a way inside. Zipline, get up high, scour the roof if you can. Hound, you and Arcee will look for secondary entrances, I'll watch the loading doors." With the plan settled, she stands, her back to a wall between the windows. "Let's move out." With that Elita One leads the team across the street, dodging possible patrols as best she can, and angles the group towards this site... Arcee nods in agreement with Elita, feeling pretty good that they have one of the Ark vets here with them to help with the scouting. And it isn't Sunstreaker; she's done with that guy. She feels honored to be able to work with someone who's a real champion at investigation. Hound will be able to tell if this is a trap set just for them, right?? She slinks along with the group quietly, doing a last-minute check to ensure she has full charges on her pistols. Hound nods to Elita One. "Gotcha, Elita One." The Autobot Scout continues scanning the area for any sign of trouble, nodding to Arcee. "Shall we head off, then?" He also adjusts his turret gun, making sure it is ready to go if needed- and his holo gun is charged and ready to mess with the minds of their enemies. Which admittedly can be kind of fun, though Hound is generally too down-to-business to really revel in such things. The green Bot starts heading off to find some secondary entrances. One thing was for sure, those stupid drones were really beginning to tick Zipline off. But finally having a lead as to where they actually came from and what might actually be boosting their abilities was music to her ears. Her only issue was waiting around for everyone to agree to take action since she didn't necissarily do 'waiting' very well. It was only a good thing that she didn't have long to wait; she practically lept at the oportunity when Elita One was pulling together a strike team. Luckily, Zipline was a bit better at waiting when it comes to actual missions. The little cheetah bot nods as Elita One gives the site rep and orders. "I wouldn't be surprised if Swindle already has the place rigged with explosives," Zipline says, tail flicking briefly behind her, "Or worse, knowing him." Her four legs tense as she nods, flashing Elita a grin. "Right, up high. I'm on it." Hydrolics shift and decompress, and Zipline moves quickly out of their little hidey hole with the others. But Zipline's attention is higher up as she moves around towards the side of the building instead of going straight at the cargo bay. She's looking for another way; a way up on top of the roof instead. The Autobots seem to have luck on their side so far tonight. They made it to this point, after all. A lone Seeker patrol passes overhead, but with the likes of Dogfight and Sky Lynx being sighted regularely in the air they're not even watching the ground. The settling shadows are disrupted when one of the loading bay doors slides open part way to allow a couple of drones, still following their original maintenance function, to carry out trash containers to be hauled off to disposal. The pale light of the inner room can be shimmering through the opening, and could be a potential chance for an entrance. There's also a ventillation duct about halfway up one side if the small speedy feline wants to test her climbing skills... Elita One raises her fist, her sillhouette visible from within the burned out building she's within. She raises a fist to hold for several moments, then motions to 'go forward' <> She rushes forward, to take advantage of the garbage run, then moves to slip inside the factory plant silently. The moment she steps inside, the Femme Commander peels her optics to evaluate the situation. Cameras get the disruptor beam. Hey, its the 80s, nobody hears anything from the next room over! She motions for the rest of the team to join her. Arcee is quick to slide beneath the door and slink in when E1 gives the signal. So far, so good. She's positive about this because the drones are...well, drones. They didn't seem too terribly bright. Certainly, this team could outwit them! Hound spots the bay door opening and Elita One runs in first. He sneaks in with Arcee, smiling at her and pointing to his holo gun. Immediately, there's a hologram making Arcee and him appear to be just another two drones. With that, he goes back to scanning and looking for the source of all this activity.... Not that Zipline was easily spotted from the air, especially when she keeps close to the outer wall of the facility. She moves swiftly, only stopping to duck behind a garbage dumpster when those drones make their way out to carry trash out to it. <> Zipline replies, eyeing the disposal drones. But the ventilation duct catches her attention. <'ve got my way up, I'll try and find a way to come in from up top.>> Once the disposal drones have moved on, Zipline moves out from behind the dumpster. She leaps up on top of it, balancing carefully on the lid. Legs tense, hydrolics compressing as her tail flicks and sways behind her, like a cat preparing to pounce. Then she leaps! Sharp claws latch onto the ventilation duct, but her back claws miss, and her back-end dangles from the duct until she can manage to get her back paws up there too. Then claw by claw, she works her way up the duct, and towards the roof-top. As the final Autobot slips in, the loading bay door thumps shut again, apparently registering Hound and Arcee as the two drones that exited. This leaving the trio alone in the room, facing another set of shutters closing off the rest of the facility. Alone until a holo-projector crackles to life in a corner of the room, rendering the form of everyone's (least) favorite con mech in textures of purple hues. "Well well, if it isn't my least favorite neighbors. Did you really think I wouldn't anticipate your inevitable attempts at interrupting my cozy little operation here?" Holo-Swindle pauses to adjust his bolo-tie, smiling smugly as ever. "But I'm if not a sporting mech. Or bored. Either works. A shrug, a roll of static hissing along the holo's form. "But I know why you're here and you know why you're here, so let's cut to the chase shall we? The projection waves an arm dramatically, and the inner shutters rise up to reveal a plethora of assembly lines, work units, parts presses and all sort of factory machinery churning away. "Welcome to the Cronum Automatron Assembly Euporium, courtesy of SwindleCo. You want to shut me down? The only way to get to the central chamber where all the goodies are kept is to go -through- the gauntlet of machinery. I paid the Constructicons extra to ensure there was no other way through, so don't bother trying." Holo-Swindle folds his hands behind his back. "Either you go in and be destroyed trying to stop me, or you turn and walk away with your lives and I keep right on churning out drone modifications. It is a bit of a cache-22, yes.. but that is the point. Ask yourselves if its really worth it, hmmm?" Meanwhile though Zipline has her way up to the roof, where there's several more ducts and exhaust stacks offering potential ways of climbing in. Conveyer belts churn and presses slam loudly, almost as if taunting the Autobots into what is clearly a trap, the dirty little bastard... Elita One raises her optics to the holo-avatar. Maybe she should've asked for a drone hologram, or maybe Swindle had an Autobot Detector. Either way, the jig is up. Her optics narrow at Swindle's deal, as she growls for a moment. "Alright then, Autobots. Swindle's giving us the challenge here. We need the Drones down...we beat him at his game." As an aside, she says softer towards Arcee, "Just don't do anything he would want to put in a Femmes Gone Wild video..." With that, Elita One hops onto the conveyer belt. standing next to one of the weapons to be stamped and welded. She actually stands rather casually, despite the first stamping machine drawing quite close. "Elita One knows no fear...." She says, ducking just enough to not have any issues with the first machine, the large riveting stamper hits both weapons on each side of her, but leaves her unaffected. It's all part of the timing. "Spread out, the more routes we take, the more likely one of us gets through." Arcee stares angrily at the Swindle-holo...then peers blankly at Elita. "Wait, what?? WHAT?? I never -- gah, FINE! Let's do this! Hound, thanks for the holo-cover, but it looks like Swindle's anticipated this the entire time!" She pulls one of her pistols from subspace, then grabs onto a hook which leads up a ramping conveyor belt to a higher elevation. From this vantage point, she can hold onto the hook with one hand, and blast the drones below with the other, like an airborne sniper. Hound frowns as the trap is revealed. It had almost seemed too easy... welp, that's 'cause it was. He watches as Elita One hops on a conveyer belt and Arcee slips off. He nods to her before she goes, "Yes... well, we can still beat that shyster. Just keep in mind he's holding the cards here... but that ALSO can make him cocky, too... and leads to a chance for us surprising HIM." Then he looks around, wodnering... exactlt how is HE gonna get through this? He's nowhere as nimble and quick as the others.... The Jeep is brave, though, and simply decides to make his way up a ladder and along a walkway... and whatever he finds- he'll deal with it. Hound also cancels the holograms, since they've been spotted and all..... As it turns out, climbing air ducts is not the easiest thing ever. At least Zipline doesn't care whether or not she leaves holes in the duct with her claws. But with a groan of her hydrolics, she finally makes it to the top, and tumbles to the roof of the facility. "That took forever and a day," She mutters, scraping bits of metal duct-work off of her claws before sheathing back up again. "Bet the others are already halfway to shutting this place down." Zipline looks around her, taking note of several duct openings. Too small for a normal cybertronian to even think of crawling through. But large enough for her. Zipline narrows her eyes as she pads out amongst the ducts. "Hmm... " She passes by the ones nearest to the bay doors. "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe..." Instead, she eyes one of the smaller ones. "The bigger ones and exhaust stacks probably go to the factory floor." She makes her way to one of the smaller duct openings, and begins crawling into it. It's a bit more of a tighter fit, but a small tape can manage it. "Enjoy your industrial grade doom. And if you do manage to survive, be sure to check out our gift shop!" and with that the holo-Swindle is gone in a blip. Elita One takes the direct route, timing her way between the industrial presses as they stamp molds and casings. When she reachs the end of that belt where the pressed pieces are dumped off into a hamper, there's another conveyer an easy jump over... Though this one has cutting lasers sweeping about it, and they aren't going to disconcern between drone parts and Autobots. Hound climbs up onto a catwalk and starts making his way along, though he's the first to come across actual opposition as a patrol of drones marches onto the opposite end, guns raised and chittering away. "WHAT YOU SAY?" "HOW ARE YOU GEN-TLE-MEN?" "YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SUR-VIVE MAKE YOUR TIME!" And then several get blasted apart as Arcee passes over on her hook. But she's going to have her own issues to think about, as those hooks are coming to an end where they drop scap metal into a giant smelting tank to be melted down for injecting into molds. Zipline you would think has the easy way... But that's before she's got a couple of duct patroling drones that look like Roombas with buzzsaws encircling them zipping into the ductwork with her! Elita One climbs up to the top of the casting pot, suspended over the big smelting vat. She leaps off onto the next conveyer. Cutting lasers. She considers the situation, her fingers rolling as she ponders possibilities. Her hands go for her pistols, targetting one of the lasers before her. An electrical shower bursts forth from the ruined welder laser, sending its contents into the vat below. Much like in real life, there's a backblast immediately. Smoke and fire belch out of the vat, sending Elita One back and to the side to escape its wrath. In the process of doing so, a clamp snags her arm. "What in the..." and welds a serial number patch onto her arm. The next machine promptly files off the serial number. As she looks in dismay at the processing, a third hand, armed with a rubber plunger, appears and stamps her on the forehead ""PROPERTY OF SWINDLE-CO" complete with a smug looking Swindle (and bolo tie) giving the thumbs up over the company name. Arcee peers at the quickly-approaching end of the line. "Really??" she sighs in dismay. She puts her gun away for the time being, then begins swinging to and fro on the hook until she builds up enough momentum to let go and experience the temporary sensation of...FLYING! Straight towards a ceiling-to-floor pole. She smacks into it hard, then slides down it like a firewoman, until she gets about halfway down -- no, she doesn't REALLY want to drop down into the crowd of drones below, so she pauses to see if she can 'parkour' her way to the top of another machine. She lunges off the pole toward the side of a machine, then hangs there for a moment, cursing Swindle until she can pull herself the rest of the way up onto the machine. In short: Arcee swung off the high pulley hook onto a pole, slid halfway down, and has now found purchase on an adjacent machine without needing to drop back down onto the floor. Hound waves a thank-you salute as Arcee swings by, then turns to look at the remaining drones sharing the catwalk with him. He almost grins as the drones approach, then points behind them. "What you say?! Sorry guys, all your base are belong to us! Don't believe me? Just look!" If they do, they'll see a holo image of Grimlock standing behind them, smacking one fist into the other and looking rather menacing. The Autobot Jeep hopes to distract them long enough to run right towards them- swinging a punch and hoping to knock them all over like a bunch of dominoes! Duct walking isn't exactly the quietest thing ever. Even Zipline is making a bit of noise that duct-working drones might be able to pick up. But she can't help but smirk when she doesn't encounter anything out of the ordinary for a duct for a few paces. The frown fades when she cants her head to the side, ear piqued at the sound of shenanigans down below. "Maybe I should've taken the front doors," She mutters, crawling onwards in through the duct, "Sounds like they're having fun." Right, fun. For a wrecker, maybe. Zipline cants her head the other way when she picks up the quiet vrrrrm sound of the robotic vaccum cleaners even before she sees them. But it doesn't really prepare her for what's coming her way. "... Vaccum cleaners that slice and dice, as well as clean? That is so Swindle." Claws extend out from their sheaths, but Zipline finds quickly that she doesn't have much room to do any slicing and dicing of her own. Instead, she reaches out with both forepaws in front of her, and tears a roomba sized hole in the duct-work right in the little robo-cleaners way. Elita One pulls against the clamp holding her arm into place, but it refuses to yield. She adds her foot's strength to the pry attempt, but the Femme isn't strong enough still! She looks back towards the assembly line, and the other Autobots, "Bots, I'm stuck!" The assembly line starts to reach the end of the road, leading to several big crates. Her battle pistol goes flying the moment she draws it, letting the thing trail down the conveyor. Helpless for the moment, there is still a mission to accomplish. "Arcee, Hound!" Elita One draws her detpack, then tosses it onto a lower conveyor, going towards the two. "Demolition Kit!" Moments afterwards, two more hands pick her up, bend her improperly like a Tetris block, then drop her in a crate. She shakes her head, recovering herself. "What is all... She questions the strange armaments, tubes and shells of some sort. "Ugh...the irony" Elita One laments as she's sealed into a crate of mortar supplies, complete with rivets sealing her in, and putting her on an outbound truck! Maybe these are the drones that rejects from Swindle's modification attempts, because at the point and call they all turn around to look, and stall just long enough for Hound to bumrush through them. Drones go tumbling over the sides of the catwalk, a couple getting cut apart as they fall in the laser cutters Elita just finished, others falling into some of the machinery. One lands on a platform unscathed, and gets up, raising his blaster back towards the walkway as Hound is running down it and fires. "REMOVE EVERY ZI--" *CRUNCH* Two presses come from the sides to slam it flat, but not before the blast nails one of the catwalk's supports, causing it to lurch at an angle and threaten to dump Hound downward into more machinery. This is the point where one really starts to wonder what Swindle and the Constructicons were thinking other than to make the most convulted obstacle course possible out of a factory, because there is absolutely no reason other than to be in the way that several giant saws thrust back and forth across the new section Arcee has found herself upon. Signed, sealed, delivered!... Well, maybe Elita will manage to bust herself out eventually. But that demo pack fell on one of the shifting conveyer belts. If someone gets their hands (or paws) on it, the main chamber is right there at the center of this madness. Buzzsaw roombas tumble down the hole, clattering through the machinery... And then due to the cuts the panel under Zipline also falls out, dumping the feline down onto a moving conveyer as well. And here come those grabber arms again. Better move if you don't want to end up in a box being shipped to Abu Dabi, kitten! Arcee sees Elita get sealed into a box, but not before dropping a det-pack. She isn't sure if she's in range to get it, but she's sure going to try, rotating saws or no rotating saws. "Hound!! Are you able to reach that?? Let me know and...and if you can I'll cover you! Otherwise I'll try to get across this thing!" "So long, suckers!" Zipline jeers, watching the roombas fly out of the duct-work. But one of them manages to get a buzzsaw cutting the duct right underneath her. The hole that Zipline made widens rapidly, splitting right open like it was a zipper. And spills Zipline out of the ducts and into the madness down below. WHUMP. Zipline lands on all fours on one of the conveiers halfway through the factory floor. Only to fall flat on her aft when the conveier belt moves rapidly the other direction, speeding her straight for those grabbing arms. "That didn't go as-Hey!" Zipline drops flat to the belt quickly, and the grabber arms reach out just above her, missing her head by barely an inch. "I don't like to be bot-handled!" Zipline rolls one way, barely avoiding another set of grabber arms. But a third pair grab ahold of her tail. "OW! Hands off!" She is on her feet quickly, and and starts to try and run in the opposite direction of those grabber arms, trying to yank them out of their machine. Hopefully her tail is made of stronger stuff than those arms are. Hound grins as his plans works pretty well, actually... that last drone getting crushed just as he was about to say yet another line from a badly translated game... Hound loves Earth, and its culture, so he definitely heard that meme when it was all the rage. His grin doesn't last long, however- the drone's stray shot hits a support structure and sends the Jeep 'Bot lurching to the side with the catwalk... hanging on a rail and looking down below, where machines stomp, slice and stamp. Arcee calls to him, and he looks to her... then that beltway below. Hmmm... if he can time this right, maybe he could reach it? "I think I may be able to... looks like I am going to be dropping down to that level, anyway, soon..." And sure enough.... the catwalk is getting even more rickety. Hound starts swinging, popping more support structures as he does- and then lets go! Hopefully, the swing will see him landing on the same conveyer belt the detpack is on..... Wait..what's that? Why is there a cardboard box up ahead of them? It's overturned and the flaps stick out to each side, and a really impressively large box. Heck, you could probably hide an entire car under that box. But no matter, no one ever pays attention to a cardboard box. It's just sitting there behind one of the automated guard units. Where'd the guard go? One minute he was there, and then it was just the box. Only..wasn't the box over on the other side before? Nah. It's just a box.... The cardboard box keeps making it's way through the factory, moving quickly via an intersecting path towards where it's picking up signals from the infiltration team, as a certain saboteur reaches out from under it from time to time, collecting this bit of interest or shanking that inattentive guard. Jazz is on the scene, but no one will realize it. Nope. Just a box. You would think a -cardboard- box would register out of place, but these aren't the -smart- drones. Or it's because this franchise runs on 80s cartoon plots. Possibly both. But unsurprisingly Jazz is sneaking his way through unaccousted. That his fellow Bots are causing all the action and ruckus helps. There's a lot of saws between Arcee and the other end. But the saws are, unsurprisingly, moving in an elaborate but overall noticable pattern if you look close enough. Still, that's going to be some tricky timing. The Detpack... stops moving... and then the belt its on starts moving in the other direction as Zipline starts running farther up the line, her speeding having like the reverse effect of a treadmill as it forces the belt to go in the opposite direction. The belt backs up to drop the Detpack over an end... and then it chugs up in a rising lift on scoops moments later. The same one that Hound lands on from his swing. He's got a chance to get that pack and get out of the scoops before they dump the burnt circuits in them into a shredder. The extreme speed and friction eventually blows out the belt's motor, and suddenly with a lot more traction under her paws Zipline goes shooting away from the offending acuators, maybe a little -too- fast. "Well now, what's this?" A floating holo-screen flickers to life with Swindle's image not far from the scoop lift. "Tch. A bomb. Somehow I'm not surprised. If you set that off, do be sure to make way to the nearest emergency exit... Oh wait, in order to cut costs and evade zoning restructuring there are no emergency exits. Nevermind!" and then it blips off again. No safety compliance? Cheap jerk... though does Cybertron even HAVE an OSHA? Arcee is getting really frustrated at this trap. But they're all THIS far invested into it, so they can't turn back now. Hound's actions assure her that the det-pack will be retrieved. And finally, she spots the speedy little Zipline, blowing up conveyor belts with her speediness. Turning her attention to the moving saws, she pulls out her gun and tries to time her way through the saws, but one of them knicks her foot anyhow. She takes her rage out on the saw, blasting it to pieces and then taking a long leap over to (relative) safety. As she stands there trying to recuperate, she finds herself staring at a floating holoscreen. She scowls and blasts at it. She doesn't care that it isn't actually there, she's going to lose her mind in this place if they have to endure it much longer. The holo-screen projector explodes in a small shower of sparks and crystal bits. And then one blinks to life on the other side of Arcee. "Please, do you have any idea how much it costs to replace one of those?" Now he's just rubbing it in. Zipline's legs might be moving, but she sure isn't. The belt spins under her, keeping her in one place while the belt moves backwards. It's a bit like she's on a hampster wheel, with her pushing her legs harder to try and make up for the belt's lack of traction. Until the belt motor breaks and physics catches up with the tape-bot. The little cheetah bot is a yellow blur that speeds across the factory floor. She hits the ground at a roll that just keeps going, like a bowling ball that doesn't want to stop. Luckily there's a group of drones right in her way, already arranged like bowling pins. Hound lands and heads to the detpack, jumping from scoop to scoop, then grabbing it... now if he can just get out of this things before he loses a lot of weight.... really fast. Glancing towards the shredder below, he hops up to the previous scoop again, looking for a way out- and spots the conveyer belt the detpack had fallen from. Now he gets to reverse jump a few times, trying to make his way back to there... or at least find a belt he CAN jump to safely. When it looks like he might succeed- he jumps! Hmmm. He's doing a lot of jumping here tonight, and Hound is NOT an acrobat. Er, acrobot? Ohh, gloat some more Swindle. Yes, keep bringing up things for Jazz to take care of. That box just slinks around the lower levels, the thing flipping up briefly as a white and blue something reaches black hands out from beneath, hauling a guard under it. There's a crunching of metal, and then he's near one of the outer walls. Briefly, the box is abandoned as he plants charges along the wall in a roughly box-shaped pattern just a little larger than the size of a jeep's outline. Then he's back in the box, the only evidence of his passing being a few little red blinking dots from time to time as the box slinks away. What can we say? When they're determined and dedicated, Autobots pull off some pretty crazy slag even if it isn't in their typical pool of skills. Hound has the Detpack, and thanks to Zipline burning out the motor the convery he finally jumps onto isn't moving. Arcee makes it through the saws, and is now the closest to the central construct that can bring this whole operation crashing to a halt. If Hound can just get her the explosive, she could finish what Elita started. There's still a few drones... and a few less drones... and then no drones as Zipline crashes into them before they can open fire on the two bots. She must of been taking tips from Spindrift. ... And does anyone even know Jazz is here? Looks like he's leaving an exit way to make up for the ones Swindle didn't allot money to though. And at the end of the pile of drones, Zipline finally rolls to a stop on her stomach. "Urgh... Now I know..." She says, wobbling, as she starts to get herself back up to all fours. "What a pinball feels like..." Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have Spindrift's gyro-stabalizers to keep her from getting dizzy. As soon as Zipline is up on all fours, she flops right back down on her aft. Looks like she's not going far until her internal sensors recalibrate. Hound finds that the conveyer belt has stoppped... thank Primus. That's been quite enough acrobatics for this green Jeep for one day. Now... to finish this little obstacle course that OTHER Jeep has set up for them tonight. He makes his way through the machinery, finally running up to Arcee and handing the detpack out to her. "Got it... it's all yours! I know you can do this." He smiles at her encouragingly, then looks around, scanning for trouble. Ohhh...there's a lost little kitty out in the middle of the factory floor, all surrounded by confused and toppled drones? Jazz just can't leave things standing that way. Nope. The box scoots out a bit farther away from the edge of the wall and there's a cutting noise as one of the flaps is removed and pulled under the box. The sound of folding paper is all that can be heard, and a few moments later the edge of the box lifts and a second box emerges from under it. Much, much smaller. It's tossed across the intervening distance, and like a champion at horseshoes, he rings the downed yellow ball perfectly, the box settling over it. Nothing to see here..just two boxes hanging around a factory. Arcee makes her way down to a lower level on the factory floor, and begins to realize she's reached a very important place within the factory. If Hound is able to reach her, or at the very least, get the explosive to her, this place can meet its suitable end. Damn those Combaticons for making everything horrible. Within moments of reaching the point, Hound gets the device to her, and she grins cheerfully. Arcee is so glad they get to destroy this particular level of Robot Hell. So. Much. "Thank you kindly!" She then gets to work attatching the det-pack to the main construct. "Where's Zip? I'm about to set the timer on this thing -- where'd she go??" Arcee looks around frantically. For that matter, how are they getting out once the timer is set? Oh wait, Mr. Mystery Box was taking care of that Hound looks around. "I'm not sure...." He radios, <> He starts running scans, at least attempting to make sure she's nowhere in the immediate vicinity. And steps back, by the way, in case that thing goes off soon. One second, Zipline was there. The next, just a box. Just a box that shakes a little bit when Zipline shakes her head to try and clear it. Then a hole is poked in one side of the box by a claw. Followed by a second one. A pair of blue optics peer out through the holes in the side a second later. The box shifts to one side, eyeing the bigger box. <> Then, the small box shifts again. <'m here! Light that thing and let's beat it!>> As for that large box? Nope, nowhere to be seen. It's sitting upright in a corner and Jazz has slipped away already, hiding in the shadows and moving beneath the machinery. He's slick, and in no time at all he's on a line between the bot's setting up the bomb and his intended escape route for them. Now there's just the matter of getting them to the escape route. He hunkers down into the shadows and raises his rifle, taking aim and shooting amidst the chaos and noise of the factory being disrupted. His rifle is quiet to start with, and as he shoots more and more of the lighting units die overhead with showers of sparks, as he leaves a lighted path through the factory towards his wall..err..exit-to-be. His IFF is off, nope, no Jazz here. That's just a box sitting over there with no one in it at all. <> Zipline says, before that smaller box starts scuttling away. Hound radios Arcee in case she didn't get that message. <> "<< ...OK, great! When I say 'go', get ready to haul aftplate, OK? >>" Arcee hits a few buttons, then the device begins beeping. "<< Annnd, GO! >>" Arcee darts ahead to gracefully transform into her pink Cybertronian Tech Car, enging purring, ready to go! Hound transforms into his 2010 Jeep Wrangler Mopar mode. With the bomb set and armed, the only thing left to do is leave. Fortunately there's a path of light leading the way through the darkness. Did the damage just randomly do that? No one will know for sure, and this is no time to double-guess it. That thing is ticking! But the path leads right to a wall! That a light just happens to swing down into, setting off the hidden bombs just as the Autobot brigade is racing in, leaving them with nothing but a cloud of smoke and dust to speed through. No one is ever going to see the cable holding up that light was severed with an expertly placed shot... In the darkness it had been hard to see that the building even had windows, but now they light up brightly as the central construct is blown to bits. Smoke, flames and ... paper? Burning paper? Why is there paper, even in someone what mucks around on earth on a regular basis is involved, billowing out with the plumes of smoke? Someone might want to stop and take a look at that... Lights? Going in a single direction? That seems sort of dodgy. But without any other way to get out of the place, Zipline isn't going to question it. She sheds the box, leaving it behind as she takes to a run, straight through smoke. And not straight into a wall, either, but out into the open. <> 2010 Jeep Wrangler Mopar makes his way out, his Jeep mode placed into 4-wheel drive so he can just drive /over/ things if he has to. It's still faster than his root mode. As he drives out, several sheets of that paper drift down and land inside his open passenger seat area. Hmmm. He keeps driving until he's out of the building, then parks, transforming and grabbing the paper. "What's this?" 2010 Jeep Wrangler Mopar transforms into his Hound mode. Pink Saturn Sky transforms and heads in the only direction they can go at this point. She swerves to avoid getting blown away by the bombs that demolish the wall in front of them, and once they're outside and clear of the place, Arcee transforms back to robot mode, only to see...papers, some burnt and some not, drifting about. "I'm not sure I even want to know," she admits. The pink Cybertronian tech car splits apart to reveal Autobot Warrior Arcee! She's ready to kick aft! He lurks in the shadows just long enough, long enough to count one...two...three Autobot's out the exit he made. That's all he counted since he's been here, he has no clue that Elita One was ever present, or that she's been crated and shipped off to Primus knows where. "Good job Autobots..." he mutters proudly, before he looks back towards the explosion. Well, he certainly can't go out the way that they did. That would defeat the purpose in the entirety. Jazz grabs his box as he runs by. The box is tossed high into the air as something else goes skittering across the ground, and Jazz manages to slide under the box just before it hits the ground. There's a muffled *whump* as the directional charge detonates, blowing a hole in the floor such that when another detonation rips the box out of the way, no Autobot is there, only a hole leading down to the sewers below as Jazz makes his exit from the building. The smoldering, burned and now barely eligible paper bits appear to be.. citations. Doctored shipping lists, order forms, even a couple of pictures of Swindle dealing with alien crime bosses, before burning away as they flit to the ground. And that is when the slow, almost mocking clapping sounds through the otherwise barren street. Not hard to spot where it's coming from, as a certain tan and purple form stands on a low rooftop. "Not bad Autobots. You've prevented me from producing any more drone modifications for the time being..." Swindle holds up his hands to the sides slightly. But you really think I would leave valuable product in middle of an trap? Nah, the last set of mods was trucked out this morning." Then he leans forward a bit, resting an arm on his knee as a leg is propped up on the roof ledge. His smile is hard to see in the partial light, but the mischevious mocking glow of his purple optics is unmistakable. "But I do thank you blow up that cache of outdated munitions I couldn't sell and about two decades worth of incrimidating evidence for me!" He gives the other hand a dismissive wave. "Sure, command will be a bit pissy about the facility. But for me, this is a lot more valuable to -not- have lying around." Barely a half second just after Swindle stops talking, there's a dull *THWUD* of something leaving a barrel at near super-sonic speeds. Which possibly has something to do with the high speed projectile flying at Swindle's face, fired from somewhere around where Zipline is standing. Was standing, because the full charge of her railcannon sends Zipline skidding back across the pavement until her claws make her finally come to a stop. "Oh yeah?! You must not think your FACE is valuable if you left it out in the open like that!" "Besides this way," there's an audible *CHA-CHUNK* as he raises his arm, loads his cannon, and then levels it at the Autobots below, "I get to savor finishing the job persona--AUGH!" Then jerks said arm back as the railcannon shell strikes his scatterblaster, blowing it off his arm and knocking the Combaticon over on his aft. But sparing his face, unintentionally. Smoking arm grabs the roof edge to lift himself partway up to glare over it. "I swear, one day that cannon is going to be hanging on my wall while you're in bits on Soundwave's disection table, kitty." ... And then true to form, Swindle turns and scrambles away across the rooftops before anyone else tries to shoot him.